What to expect from the 2018 Seahawks: Hint- It isn’t 4-12

It is absurd how many people have completely written off the 2018 Seattle Seahawks. I’ve seen countless predictions that have the Seahawks anywhere between 4 and 6 wins. I guess I can see the angle of losing a lot of high profile players from a defense that was considered elite for the better part of six seasons. I guess you could make the jump that because the team finished 9-7 and missed he playoffs last year, the natural progression would be for them to continue in a downward trajectory. I guess I can see how these thoughts would creep into one’s mind. But just because I can see how you got to that conclusion doesn’t make it any less idiotic.

To be honest, this whole idea that the Seahawks are completely doomed is just lazy. To arrive at this conclusion you have to ignore a lot of things.

Let’s start with the dismantled defense argument, one that appears the strongest at face value. The Seahawks will not have players like, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, Richard Sherman, and Kam Chancellor this season. All of these guys have been prominent members of an all-time great defense. But here’s the thing… It’s nothing new. Rewind to last year and you’ll see that down the stretch Michael Bennett was the only one of those four actually playing. So really the only difference other than Bennett is the Seahawks have now added depth to make up for some of the losses that they couldn’t compensate for last year.

Let’s look at what this 2018 team is really missing. And before anyone gets inflamed by this, understand that These guys are some of the best players I’ve ever watched and all of them deserve a salute for what they accomplished in Seattle. What I’m about to say relates purely to where we are presently in 2018.

Michael Bennett- Age 32, slowing down and somewhat divisive in the locker room.

Cliff Avril- Age 32, forced to retire because of neck injury.

Kam Chancellor- Age 30, forced to unofficially retire due to a neck injury.

Richard Sherman- Age 30, coming off of a torn achilles, locker room cancer, and still, yes STILL miffed about what happened in Glendale four years ago. In fact he clearly had something to do with yet another article coming out bashing Pete, Russell and trying to explain why the dynasty was never realized. There are some interesting points in there, but if you really want to know why 2015, 2016, and 2017 did end like they could’ve look no further than the mirror, Mr. Sherman. He couldn’t move on, so thankfully the Seahawks finally did. you can read the Sports Illustrated article here. Oh in case you forgot, here’s another hit piece Richard Sherman signed off on a year ago.

As it turns, the 2018 Seahawks aren’t really missing as much as some might think. Is the defense unproven? Of course. Are they going to be the elite unit we’ve seen in years past? Probably not. But that’s ok. They don’t have to be perfect. They just have to slow down opponents.

Which leads me to my next point. RUSSELL WILSON! That’s right, the ELITE, franchise quarterback that single handedly kept the team relevant last year. This point is pretty simple. How can people say this team will win four, five, or six win team when Russell Wilson is the quarterback? An elite QB is worth seven wins by himself. So do people just not respect Russell? That is the only possible explanation. I’ll take the side of history. Russell has won 11, 13, 12, 10, 10, and 9 games in his six seasons with Seattle. He’s only gotten better. So I’m going to take the over on six wins.

Speaking of wining games, we are all aware that Pete Carroll is still the coach, correct? Allow me to provide everyone a refresher. Pete Carroll has won a minimum of seven games since he came to Seattle in 2010. So those who doubt this team believe that Pete Carroll in his ninth season with an established franchise quarterback will have his worst season yet? Unbelievable.

I just don’t see the pending disaster the way others do. If I’m wrong, I’ll be the first to admit it.